Monday 30 May 2011

The IPL Itch

Lets face it...cricket's IPL was designed on the lines of the English premiership football, and the whole world knows the success of that sporting model.
I've been wondering for long now, why cricket figures so highly in the subcontinent. whereas its following is on steep decline in other big cricketing countries, including England, and there aren't too many countries keen on taking it up seriously to help populate that list. My guess is that the number of permutations and combinations that this otherwise slow sport throws up makes the detailing of those very complexities compelling to follow in the Indian subcontinent, cos otherwise the other more interesting bit, which is the result of any game is out only in 4 hrs in case of 20-20 and 8 hrs in case of one day, and 3-5 days in case of Test match cricket.
Subhash Chandra n' Kapil Dev in case of ICL, followed by Modis and BCCI in case of IPL have to be commended for creating a sports business model, purely playing on the country's passion for the game, and mixing it up with oodles of glamor to give it the much needed flavor for it to go the distance.
Country V/s the club seems like a stupid logic. No ones bound to play for one or the other. If it is injury or fatigue or anything else that keeps an established player away from playing for the nation, there are plenty of new players waiting in the wings to take their place, and thats again thanks to the IPL or the domestic league where they probably would've been spotted with their skill and talent. There were times when some established players used to cement their place in the national team to such an extent that an exciting young prospect would've started greying by the time he got the opportunity to represent the country. Things have changed, the sport itself has changed, and again, while there'll be people cribbing about the players, and the changing sport on the sidelines...the game must go on !!!

Sunday 29 May 2011

Relationship Basics


During a seminar, a woman asked," How do I know if I am with the right person?" the author then noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so he said, "It depends. Is that your partner?" In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?" Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind replied the author. Here's the answer.
Every relationship has a cycle...In the beginning; you fall in love with your partner. You anticipate their calls, want their touch, and like their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called "falling" in love.
People in love sometimes say, "I was swept of my feet." Picture the expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something happened TO YOU. Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few months or years of being together, the euphoria of love fades. It's a natural cycle of EVERY relationship. Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse's idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship; you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage. At this point, you and/or your partner might start asking, "Am I with the right person?" And as you reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when relationships breakdown.
The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found.
People blame their partners for their unhappiness and look outside for fulfilment. Extramarital fulfilment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most common. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your relationship. It lies within it. I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else. You could. And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later. Because (listen carefully to this): The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found.
SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. You have to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it demands WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make it work. Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your partner). Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. If you know and apply these laws, the results are predictable. Love is therefore a "decision". Not just a feeling.
Remember this always: God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let GO!!

Sunday 1 May 2011

Royal Austerity

While we all appeared to have immersed ourselves in this Royal Will-Kat wedding fanfare on the telly to find an escape from the not so Royal, mechanical lifestyles we're all so used to, wondering what it'd take to shed that overzealous fascination for all things British or western.
While this one was billed to be a Royal wedding conducted in austere times, there's nothing to deter the British royalty to splurge, and qualify as the most pampered monarchy on the globe, a shrunken invitee list notwithstanding.
Might sound as a spoiler after all that merriment, but as responsible emerging economies, our Govts could've perhaps sounded to our past colonial masters to apply a more frugal approach to their lifestyle, their monarchy included, especially in our very interconnected, and interwoven economies. "Mind your own business" is a reply that could be well anticipated in keeping with their hardened snobbery, but if emerging economies could be instructed to cut down on emissions and slow down on consumption, it's only fair to apply a reciprocal logic here.
Point is, while candy coated sweet-talk by heads of state from western countries is consumed with a fair degree of seriousness, it's time the emerging powers in the current world order give a piece of their mind, solicited or otherwise.
While, there's been enough commentary both on and off the telly on how Will and Kat looked resplendent in their sartorial elegance, not too sure if Kate will ever equal or fill the void that was brought about by Diana's demise. Comparisons with Diana were bound to happen, as the Brits would look for iconification of this new member of the royal family, and Kate will perhaps live up to it, and generate a huge following of her own in times ahead, but it might not have the same constituents and legacy that princess Diana left behind.